Saving Brigit Read Online Free PDF

announcement with silence, then a
hmmm
laced with shock and then disapproval. Did no one trust she could handle a Q&A session with an American embassy?
    Jackson finally spoke. “I’m sure Mr. Hawkins would not approve, Mrs. Williams.”
    Enough of this.
“Mr. Hawkins doesn’t have to approve. I’ve made up my mind. Brigit is my friend. If she’s in trouble and I don’t do everything I can to help, the knowledge will haunt me the rest of my life. By the time Derek returns to the office, I’ll be back, hopefully with an embarrassed college student in tow.” She nodded her head at July with a “take that” attitude. July threw her hands in the air and stood up to pace.
    “Mrs. Williams, will you give me another few minutes? If you’re set on doing this, please allow me to help however I can. Believe me, Mr. Hawkins will have my head otherwise. Do you have a current passport?” Thia assured him she did. “Then I promise to call back in a few minutes.”
    Satisfied someone finally took her seriously, Thia knew a moment’s satisfaction.
    The phone rang less than twenty minutes later. “I’ve begun the process for your visa and the rest of your traveling papers. Your flight leaves tomorrow night. I’ll courier everything you’ll need to your home by two, tomorrow afternoon. I’ve also arranged for a guide in Islamabad. A man named Rashid Salid. He knows all the ins and outs, not only of our embassy workings, but…well, of everything you may need.”
    Thia knew that meant the man served in a capacity other than simple guide. She also knew better than to ask anything else.
    “You can trust him. When I have the paperwork in hand, I’ll let him know your flight information.”
    “Thank you, Michael. If you’ve made the arrangements, I know everything is well in hand. I appreciate your help.”
    “Mrs. Williams, this is a dangerous area. Won’t you please wait for Mr. Hawkins?”
    “I can handle things. And whatever I can’t handle, your Mr. Salid will be there for me.”
    The man heaved a sigh that didn’t sound at all confident in her decision.
    Too bad.
“Goodbye,” she said and hung up before he could mount another argument as to why she should have her head examined.
    “July, call Marvin back and get every bit of information he has on Brigit’s boyfriend, and then do the same of her roommate at UNLV.” Trying to control the inner thrill of adventure, she smiled instead of laughing, like she felt. “And don’t worry. You’ll see. She’s simply over there in a new culture having fun. Like most girls with their boyfriends, she’s put everyone but him from her mind. It’ll all work out.”
    “From your mouth to God’s ear,” July said ominously and walked out to make her phone calls.
* * * *
    Brigit twisted into a sitting position. The cot on which she lay was no different from the one she’d left in her previous cell, though the room in which she now found herself was slightly improved. Like her other “home,” this room had a makeshift toilet and sink, but here a cloth screen partially hid them. There was a table bolted to the floor, a small cabinet secured in the same way, and two beds. In the wall above the table, someone had embedded a shiny piece of metal that served as a mirror.
    The room smelled fresh, without a hint of mustiness, though from all the rock and stone Brigit saw in the corridors, she thought they might be underground or in a cave. Now she found the source of the freshness. High on the wall over their beds, a vent circulated air through the slatted metal. Next to it was a circle of glass—a window. After her days in dark isolation, Brigit couldn’t get enough of the light.
    None of these amenities changed the fact that the door lacked a handle, making the room a prison cell.
    At last, Brigit’s gaze lighted on the biggest improvement in the new room, her companion, Fatima. She wore layers of translucent materials that hid little. Her long legs, narrow waist, and full